Six string guitar anyone?

[Mexican Jazz]

Do any of you also play six string guitar?

I’ve always kept an acoustic guitar around the house, and occasionally I’ll strum some chords and sing a song or two. But for a decade now I’ve considered myself a bass player and put 99% of my practice time into it. Similarities in the actual instruments aside, I’ve always thought they were two very different animals and abilities.

Now I’m taking lessons from a jazz guitar teacher and practicing a lot on my six-string. I don’t want to become a guitar player. But I think highly of this teacher and feel like I can learn a lot from him.

Anyway, I’m just curious if anyone plays both and how it works out. Is music, music? Or does playing both instruments make you a jack of two trades and master of none?

[JTE]

I started on guitar back around 1971. I managed a guitar store and have always had a six-string. An acoustic guitar would be my choice if I could only have one single musical instruments. Knowing how to play guitar helps a lot with bass. Working out chords, learning how different voicings work, and hearing progressions is a LOT easier on guitar than trying to come up with that stuff on bass. And that stuff is critical to me for learning and teaching music. Music ain't about the tools we use to create it, it's all about the MUSIC.

I'm a much better bassist than guitarist, but I've gigged on guitar a little too. One band had a weird combination of drums (mostly hand percussion like congas, djembe, bongos, etc., but he also played a little kit with that band), two keyboards, one of whom also played a little rudimentary guitar, and I played bass, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar. Lots to stuff to haul to gigs...

The other band was a side project from my regular band. One of the girl singers and the guitarist and I hooked up with a different drummer, another guitarist, and a bassist. So I was the third guitarist and I loved it. Being able to play guitar the way I wanted guitarists to play when I was playing bass was so much fun! Little three-note chords instead of big fat chords, cool voice leading, letting the bassist make the chord change (e.g. playing CEG for both chords of a C to Amin change and let the bass make the change from C to A), etc. was fun.

But as a buddy says "Yeah, I play guitar, but not enough to hurt my bass playing any".

John

[onosson]

I began to learn guitar and bass at the same time (self-taught on both instruments, coming out of keyboards since childhood and a brief foray into tenor sax). I've always played both, though bass has always been my primary instrument for live performance, with keys a distant second. I've never been a guitarist in any group, though I do play guitar and sing in my solo project, as I write the vast majority of my songs on guitar, and the remainder on keys. Knowledge of other instruments is always an advantage. Always.

[()smoke()]

i played guitar for about 15 years before i bought a bass, then it was another few years before i concentrated almost solely on bass

i had to sell all my guitars last fall to pay medical bills, but i recently found a nice, inexpensive used ibanez as73 semi-hollow with dimarzio 36th anniversary pickups in it, and it sounds really good for under $300

i like playing stuff like larry carlton, robben ford, allman bros., etc, on guitar...and i'd like an acoustic again sometime--a nice nylon string with a really wide nut would be great i think

[onosson]

I'm with you on the nylon string - for a long time the only guitar I owned was a cheap Yamaha classical. But I've recently gotten into the very small guitars that are out there, 3/4 size and smaller. Currently I have a very nice "Mini Martin" LX-1, awesome guitar! I don't know why I like the tiny necks, since I spend most of my time on basses, but it works for me!

[pasta4lnch]

I play both, though I started on guitar I can whole heartedly say learning the one made me better on the other. Knowledge is power!

[Garmonbozia]

I've been known to jam on the old twang doodler now and again.

[Sonicfrog]

Been a bassist guy for the last 25 years or so. After 11 years of false starts and swearing I'd learn to play the 6 string thingy, I finally made the move last year.

Though I will always be a bass player at heart, I have to say I'm liking the guitar more and more.

Plus, not that I'm planning to switch from bass to guitar... again, I'm a bass player... but, it seems like it's inherently easier to sing and play guitar than it is to sing and play bass.

[FretlessMainly]

I took up guitar in early '77 about 3 1/2 years before I started on bass. I still play to this day, and what JTE posted rings true. If I write a whole composition, I'll do it on guitar to hear the possible bass part move through the changes, but most times I'll just work up a bass part on bass. So, guitar is cool, but the dang frets get in the way sometimes. Fortunately, I have an 11-string fretless guitar (glissentar) to combat that.

[Execrate]

Yeah, I took up guitar first, because in 1954, we literally didn't know what an electric bass guitar was!!!

But playing the bass now, that long foundation with another instrument really helped my transition to the bass - which happened about 10 years ago. It even helps in knowing how to sing and play at the same time - although it is much easier to do on the 6 string.

[slipkorn917]

i played guitar before bass, but i play bass way more now and only play guitar once in a while or when i feel like writing a song or something. i like to play acoustic but i also have an electric.

[MonetBass]

I've been playing guitar almost as long as I've been playing bass (30+ years). Although I'm pretty good at both, I still consider myself a bassist first and foremost.

BTW I have an acoustic, classical, and electric 6-string 'thingy'.

[nervous]

Yup, in our electric duo I play both and switch between bass and electric six string all night long. Doing that for over 17 years.

[kdalmia]

I play a lot more bass than I do guitar, but I appreciate guitar in that it's easier to compose on & easier to play solo. I feel like it's a lot harder to be excellent at bass than it is to be at guitar, but I don't feel like expanding into any musical territory can hurt your bass playing. It'll only increase your musicianship.

[Buslady7803]

started on bass, then for kicks got a guitar...my teacher said guitar can help with bass & vice versa. So why not?

i suck at guitar though....

[WilliamSandoval]

I play the guitar a little. I mostly just mess around with effects and different tunings, but I can jam pretty darn good in Standard. I still like bass better.

[RadioPilot]

I consider myself a decent guitarist. I play bass because I think it's a terribly underrated instrument that needs some love. A bunch of people seem to enjoy playing guitar, but not that many people seem to have fun playing bass (present company excluded).

[Webtroll]

I started on guitar years ago and actually played a few gigs as a guitarist, but I never really got into it beyond it being fun and picking up girls. The bass grabbed me when I started and I still love it. I wish girls did too.

[Darylw425]

I wonder if there has been a poll on here on how many of us also play guitar. Or any other instrument for that matter. Would be interesting to find out.

I started on guitar, and then quickly switched focus when I found out what bass was and fell in love with it. I still keep an acoustic around and play pretty often - good for sing alongs, and when guitar players come over.

I agree that understanding guitar helps on bass. Same is true for drums and keys!

[P. Aaron]

I have played guitar in a cover band for years. Currently play guitar in a Country Music band, play bass in an R & B band. Don't mind the music combination but am still longing-looking for a full time bass gig.

Just enjoy the bass and it's possibilities better.